The Truman Show

Making a movie about a reality show that follows somebody’s life from the moment of his birth is an idea worth a million. And with somebody of Weir’s caliber in the director’s chair, it’s worth two. It succeeds in sucking you into the life of Truman Burbank which is suddenly crossed by another storyline (the subject of which is obvious, but it’s till a spoiler) after about two hours of the movie. It’s funny, but at the same time chilling how everybody apart from Carrey performs like straight out of a telenovela, casually interjecting advertising slogans and so on. This is a really emotionally charged movie. And it has a wonderful soundtrack from Glass and the movie becomes ever more powerful every time you watch it again. Who wouldn’t root for Truman in his quest for freedom? So I say to you, Truman, if we never see each other again: “Good afternoon, good evening and good night!" (15/08/2004)

Touching, funny, poignant - all together and perfectly executed. I don't know how Americans, as a TV nation, viewed it, but given the decent box office returns, they probably liked it. I would love to play this movie for the soap opera addicts to enjoy as well. You can see them in the perfectly staged shots of loyal TV viewers - the two old ladies hugging couldn’t have been better. But they might not get it... "What is Lima doing again? Change the channel, this is awful." (21/07/2002)

At the end of the 1990s, America woke up and became aware of itself. A great and complex satire of society and simultaneously an intriguing film full of scenes with verve, with a main character you will support with clenched fists. When you see it in reverse order, at least it beautifully highlights why reality TV became so successful among the lower middle classes. The foolishness of a life story, other than one's own, was actually completely identical. (26/04/2015)

It’s been long since a film thrilled me this much. Funny, poignant, original; perfect, really. The premise exploits the contrast between utopia (Truman’s artificial but safe and carefree life) and anti-utopia (the TV mogul controlling human lives from an almost god-like position while people watch it without complaints). Although both have a common basis: the absence of the right to be freely happy or unhappy, they have two very different causes: Truman is denied this right from above, while the viewers don’t give a toss about it, for them it’s enough that Truman is enjoying this right, even though he doesn’t actually have it, which puts us in a vicious circle where nobody is free, but nobody cares. How much this situation reminds us of our world, that’s up to each one of you. The Truman Show offers a lot of food for thought in an entertaining package, and I love it. 100% (28/12/2008)

Along with Memento, this is probably the most original Hollywood movie of the 1990s. The idea behind it is brilliant, executed in a perfect symbiosis of depth of thought with tremendous emotions. I admire The Truman Show for absolutely every component of it. I understand that it may not captivate everyone, just as the supposedly brilliant American Beauty, for example, didn’t captivate me. (15/05/2003)